Western Michigan 58, USF 53: Bulls Fall In Invitational Finale

The Bulls were upset 58-53 by Western Michigan in the finale of the USF Invitational tournament on Sunday. USF struggled on offense in the second half, and they were outrebounded 39-26, a problem that will continue to linger all season.

USF had a seven-point lead in the second half, but the Broncos kept crashing the boards, scoring second chance points, and keeping USF off the offensive glass had a seven point lead late in the second half, but Western Michigan continued to crash the boards, get second chance points and not allow the Bulls to get second looks on any offensive possession. The Bulls came out cold in the second half, scoring just 17 points, and they shot only 37% for the game.

Shaun Noriega led the team with 16 points, but there wasn't much scoring after him. Victor Rudd had just two points on one of six shooting. Toarlyn Fitzpatrick, who made four 3-pointers in the first half, went cold in the second half and only added two more points. Anthony Collins had 12 assists, but was knocked around by a physical Broncos defense and had just two points.

The Bulls (2-2) will have Monday off to regroup before they host Bradley (3-0) on Tuesday night at 7:30pm. Tough shooting will happen, especially to a team playing its third game in 48 hours, but they have to figure out what they can do in the rebounding department. They cannot survive the entire season allowing opponents to dominate the boards like what happened today.